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American hedge fund boss Bill Ackman has made $2.6 billion by betting against the markets just days after stoking fears by saying 'hell is coming' and begging President Donald Trump to shut down the country amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Pershing Square Capital Management hedge fund manager said his firm had made $2.6billion from a one-off bet that the coronavirus outbreak would cause a global market crash. His firm seized upon bond market turmoil during the coronavirus crisis in buying 'credit protection on various global investment grade and high-yield credit indices'.

It makes sense that the federal government is stepping in to provide financial relief to the millions of citizens facing economic ruin due to the coronavirus crisis and subsequent government restrictions on activity. But what’s unconscionable is the fact that, thanks to the way Congress spent the last decade ignoring any sense of fiscal responsibility, coronavirus relief must come at the cost of further indebting future generations and dimming the outlook of our financial future. It’s not the $2 trillion price tag on the coronavirus relief bill, passed Wednesday evening by the Senate, that does this in and of itself....

LINK ONLY per FreeRepublic posting guidelines: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/03/26/nancy-pelosi-celebrates-80th-birthday-amid-coronavirus-crisis/2914907001/

Posted on March 25, 2020March 26, 2020 Saving for a Rainy Day (like today) as Modeled in Scripture In the young adult Bible study at my parish (conducted on Zoom during the current crisis) we have been reading through the Book of Genesis. Most recently, we’ve been studying the story of Joseph the Patriarch. Genesis 41 features the memorable story of how Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream of the seven cows and the seven sheaves of grain. God’s word always seems to be right on time: this story gave us an opportunity to discuss the anxiety brought about by the...

Gold & Silver Pawn the tourist attraction will close for the next 30 days as a nonessential business. Gold & Silver Pawn the financial institution will remain open, 24-7, to help valley residents. “With respect to the buying of assets and the loan business, we have a night window, and our plan is to keep that going 24 hours a day, because obviously there are people that are going to be hurting,” said Andy Zimmerman, CFO and manager of the store that’s become world famous thanks to “Pawn Stars.”

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi toured San Francisco's Chinatown Monday to send a message. She said there's no reason tourists or locals should be staying away from the area because of coronavirus concerns. "That’s what we’re trying to do today is to say everything is fine here," Pelosi said. "Come because precautions have been taken. The city is on top of the situation."

I'm having a very lazy morning. Eating a bowl of cheerios and watching Price is Right... and the first major prize up is a 11,000 dollar trip to Beijing, China. LMAO

Protesters blocked lanes on the Mexico side of the southern border on Wednesday, requesting Mexico institute more coronavirus screenings for southbound travelers to avoid further spread. The protests, involving less than a dozen people and two vehicles blocking two southbound lanes at the DeConcini crossing, lasted hours Wednesday on the Mexican side of the border in Ambos Nogales, USA Today reported. The demonstrators held up signs that requested U.S. residents “stay at home” and others demanding Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador increase restrictions and screenings on everyone entering Mexico. The protesters also requested a ban on tourism visits and...

The coronavirus pandemic has brought New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo into the national spotlight — and turned him into a heartthrob. Women say they are gushing over the way the 62-year-old Democratic leader is handling the crisis. “It’s nice to know that someone is governing, that someone is keeping track of the hospital beds and the ventilators and the masks, and keeping the pressure on the federal government,” one woman wrote for Vogue. She says the governor had an obnoxious tone and made an offhand #MeToo joke that didn’t sit well with her. But the pandemic brought out the governor’s...

For the last few weeks, Donald Trump and his task force has been conducting daily press briefings. Meeting at the White House, they are informing the country about the aggressive moves the government is making to battle the virus. Every day, we get to hear from the president and his experts directly, as they provide updates and some good news. And the ratings for these briefings is skyrocketing. The media, as you can imagine, is furious. https://thebeardedpatriot.com/liberal-media-outraged-at-trumps-daily-coronavirus-updates-heres-why/

When will I get my check? Checks are supposed to be produced “as rapidly as possible,” but it’s been suggested that could take up to two months. If you use direct deposit, it will be faster. How big will my check be? Checks will be $1,200 per adult - or $2,400 for married couples filing jointly - and an additional $500 per child. Today In: Taxes Are there income limits on checks? The amount of the checks would start to phaseout for those earning more than $75,000 ($150,000 for joint returns and $112,500 for heads of household). This is adjusted...

The UK should now be able to cope with the spread of the covid-19 virus, according to one of the epidemiologists advising the government. Neil Ferguson at Imperial College London gave evidence today to the UK’s parliamentary select committee on science and technology as part of an inquiry into the nation’s response to the coronavirus outbreak. He said that expected increases in National Health Service capacity and ongoing restrictions to people’s movements make him “reasonably confident” the health service can cope when the predicted peak of the epidemic arrives in two or three weeks. UK deaths from the disease are...

If we're honest with ourselves, there are some things around the house we know we ought to do but we tell ourselves we never have the time. While many of us are under stay-at-home orders, now is the time to handle projects to fight boredom that might have always been put off until "someday when I have the time". Don't come out of this forced staycation wishing you had done some of these because you'll probably never have a better time to do them:

A recent paper reviewing the first 12 U.S. patients with COVID-19 is used by sell-side analysts to doubt the effectiveness of Remdesivir.I review the paper and reach a different conclusion.The patients that are treated with Remdesivir have a very different profile from those that were not. There is a recent paper out on COVID-19 patients that were monitored and treated in the U.S. (3 among them received Remdesivir). This paper is used by several analysts to doubt the effectiveness of Remdesivir. Which in turn resulted in a flurry of articles (here's one example) in the media casting doubt on...

Gilead Sciences Inc on Wednesday took the unusual step of asking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to rescind a controversial orphan drug designation the agency had granted for the biotech company’s potential coronavirus treatment remdesivir just 48 hours earlier. The FDA agreed to the withdrawal, and said it is actively working to speed development of medical products desperately needed to prevent or treat the highly contagious COVID-19 illness caused by the virus. Shares of the California-based company closed down nearly 6% at $69.66. The company was criticized by lawmakers and patient advocates after receiving the orphan designation on Monday...

  Senator Bernie Sanders has challenged former Vice President Joe Biden to a 12th and final debate next month, signaling he will continue to compete for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. The Democratic National Committee has yet to schedule a date or a broadcast partner for an April debate, and on Wednesday Biden dismissed the idea. Joe Biden: “My focus is just dealing with this crisis right now. I haven’t thought about any more debates. I think we’ve had enough debates. I think we should get on with this.”

Some doctors are writing prescriptions for a drug that may help treat coronavirus for their family and friends, one pharmacist said, calling their actions "unethical and selfish." Hydroxychloroquine has not been clinically proven to be safe or successful in treating coronavirus, and yet the increased demand for it is making it harder for people who need it to control their chronic diseases to get it. Hydroxychloroquine is a less toxic derivative of chloroquine, an anti-malaria drug. It often treats autoimmune diseases, such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, and is sold under the brand name, Plaquenil. Recent data show chloroquine orders...

As of today, over three billion people around the world are undergoing a degree of home lockdown and social distancing. Nearly 70 countries have introduced some kind of home confinement measure, from mandatory lockdowns enforced by police or military, to milder isolation recommendations and curfews. India, the second-most populous country in the world, has introduced incredible sweeping measures to contain the spread of coronavirus. For 21 days the country’s entire population of 1.3 billion will be banned from leaving their homes. People do strange things in isolation. In Italy, there are stories of neighborhoods coming together in mass singalongs and...

By now, we all know AmericaÂ’s immediate COVID-19 action plan is to avoid rapid spread of the virus through good hygiene and isolation. The logic of this mitigation strategy is quite sound. As Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has repeatedly explained, this approach will buy us time and flatten the curve of the national infection rate.Both of these steps are needed because intensive care unit (ICU) resources are essential to managing the disease in older and sicker patients, but are inherently expensive and finite. We cannot afford to overwhelm them.The problem...